


Motor oil

by Clickclick (TotallyARealPerson)



Series: Phineas and Ferb fics [2]
Category: Phineas and Ferb
Genre: Gen, overlord!phineas
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-02
Updated: 2020-06-02
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:28:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,876
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24507673
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TotallyARealPerson/pseuds/Clickclick
Summary: Phineas succeeds at what Doofenshmirtz always tried to do: take over the Tri-State Area.He has Candace, Mom, and Dad with him. But Ferb, Baljeet, Isabella, and Buford are all missing, and without them, the victory rings hollow.So he goes looking.
Relationships: Candace Flynn & Phineas Flynn, Ferb Fletcher & Candace Flynn, Ferb Fletcher & Candace Flynn & Phineas Flynn, Ferb Fletcher & Phineas Flynn
Series: Phineas and Ferb fics [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1771129
Kudos: 30





	Motor oil

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Overlord](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17499134) by [Animevampire1627](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Animevampire1627/pseuds/Animevampire1627). 



> The associated work is from Ferb's POV.

Phineas was hopped up on a caffeine surge and being carried by his army of flying robots as they carried everyone off the streets. The nanobots would accompany everyone home let, per the address on their IDs, and everyone without one would be housed at City Hall until Phineas could deal with them.

Mom was asleep when the buzzing of Phineas's robot swarm woke her. Dad was trying to get the electric bug zapper, but Ferb had designed them better than to fall for such a cheap trick.

They looked in Candace's room and all around, and then expanded his search to further in the house, until they managed to find her in her hidden panic room in the basement. They reported that she'd smashed her phone and the records were irretrievable.

He was missing sleep. He'd made mistakes. He was missing them.

Where were they?

The entire town was noisy, with buzzing filling the air everywhere. His little bugs were multiplying on their own. They were so cute.

"Phineas!" came Candace's yell. Ah, what a sweet sound, his sister's anger. It usually meant he was doing something right. "What have you done?"

"I'm overthrowing the government!" Phineas said, as enthusiastically as 'We're building a giant maze!' or 'We're restoring a time machine!'

"Don't you realize how dangerous this is!" Candace said. "Phin, when people start rising against you-"

Phineas waved her off. "I'll just build something else."

"And what about Ferb?" Candace continued. "What do you think they'll do with our brother?"

 **Ferb.** Gods. He and Ferb. They were so well-known by now, being public partners in all they did. Car washes, restaurants, stadiums, amusement parks made entirely of cheese, impossibilities. It was always both of them together.

What on Earth was meant to happen now? What would happen with Ferb? Would he be...

Phineas looked around for Perry. The platypus went still and docile in Phineas's arms and his tail twitched when Phineas scratched him on the neck. "... I don't know," the readhead said honestly.

Candace sighed. "Come. Sit."

Phineas sat next to Candace and leaned into her side. Phineas was petting Perry as Candace ran her fingers through Phineas's short, greasy hair.

Mom was watching, horrified, as the bugs all around were picking up families and dumping them in city hall. All the cars were stopped and all the people were safe, but they were being abducted one by one.

"What on Earth is going on?" Linda finally found her voice. "Why aren't we with the others being carried off?"

Phineas suddenly got his smile back.

"If anyone touches a hair on Ferb's head, I'll forbid them from entering the Tri-State Area again."

Candace seemed to concur, because she got this really weird feel to her posture.

Mom, Dad, Candace, and Phineas were suddenly swept up by a new swarm. Candace shrieked, and Mom clung to Dad. By contrast, Phineas was all smiles as they were carried off to Danville Mountain.

They'd already built a lovely fortress inside the mountain. It wasn't perfect, but it would do wonderfully once he made some improvements.

Phineas spent most of the next day cementing his control on the Tri-State Area. He built a new TV station and connected it with everyone's TV simultaneously, and turning it back on regardless of it actually being on.

"Hey!" he started, cheerful. "So, here's what's going on."

~?~

He was being driven insane.

Ferb was missing. Isabella, Buford, and Baljeet, were all gone, he knew not where. Mom and Dad were being weird around him - Mom wouldn't even talk to him, and just kept muttering weird things, and Dad was being as casual as he could, but he was being weird about it. Like he was trying to ignore it, but couldn't when faced with reality.

They all did.

But at least Candace wasn't being different than usual.

She was helping him, just a little bit, in that regard. It was comforting to listen to her rants about Phineas being in a ton of trouble. She ended up being one of the most constant parts of his life, and he loved her for it.

It was just disconcerting to go through all of it without a whisper of Ferb's name.

Phineas was sullen as he dug his nose into Candace's neck and started shaking.

Sisterly instinct above all, Candace pulled Phineas tight to her. "What's wrong?" she asked softly.

"Ferb," Phineas whimpered. His forehead felt warm, and his throat felt tight. _"I can't find Ferb."_

Candace rubbed his back soothingly. "Its-a-bits," which is a nickname she'd given him a long time ago for how short he still was, "you flew around the world in only one day on a jet plane, a bouncy ball tied to a rudderless plane, a makeshift boat made out of cheap plastic, a paper airplane, and bikes. You made a time machine, and a roller coaster in a day. A skyscraper to the moon. Rocket ships. A literal full-sized plane out of paper maché. I have complete faith in you."

Phineas kept shaking. "But-"

"No buts," Candace said. "Buts are for assholes. You're not an ass."

That made Phineas chuckle. "Candace, I'm becoming supreme ruler of the Tri-State Area."

Candace hummed. "Well, part of being an older sister is supporting you, and making sure you have all the options in the world. Including the opportunity to topple it and restart."

Phineas is pretty sure he's corrupted his sister. She used to be far less okay with his endeavours. But who is he to complain, when she's supporting him?

He laughs.

"Candace, I know what I'm going to do today."

~?~

Candace is ridiculously intelligent, just like Phineas and Ferb. When she was younger, she used to compose songs and sell them anonymously, along with sheets of music. Other times, she could recreate famous paintings perfectly, down to the last brushstroke. Phineas recalled a time when he came home and a really good record label wanted to hire Candace as an independent songwriter and jingle writer. Mom didn't let Candace talk with him alone, and Phineas and Ferb weren't allowed to listen in.

Candace ended up not taking the job.

As they grew older, and Phineas and Ferb's inventions started getting more and more dangerous, Candace became less concentrated on her own interests and more worried about her little brothers.

She was proud of them. Oh, very proud indeed.

But terrified, too, because they rarely used safety equipment, and often lacked common sense. Turning off the electricity before doing stuff with the house was meant to be a thing that was generally understood, right? That was even a thing when Dad replaced the light plug covers!

They didn't even use _helmets_!

Even Candace had to admit, this one was going above and beyond.

Phineas was driving everyone away. He was jittery and looking around too much. He was expecting betrayal from every corner. It didn't help that everyone was scared of him, now that he'd overthrown the American influence and declared the Tri-State Area an independent country.

When "Ferb, I know what we're going to do today!" still sent shivers down her spine, she was at least grateful that her brothers were still relatively unharmed. She kept thinking 'this is the one, why I'll never get to see them again'.

This was it.

They'd lost Ferb.

So when Phineas came to her, she didn't know why she was convincing their new twelve-year-old overlord of the contrary.

She kissed his matted, sweat-covered forehead. He smelled like motor oil, ash, dirt, and sweat. Panic. They were both panicking.

Ferb was missing.

What else were they to do?

Candace calmed her heartrate. They'd restored her to a single person when she'd been split down the middle, and resolidified her when she'd been turned to juice. "Yo don't have a tracker on Ferb, do you?"

He shook his head. "I have access to all security channels in the Tri-State Area," Phineas whispered. "He isn't anywhere."

"What does that tell you?" Candace asked. "Where could your enemies be hiding him?"

Phineas went quiet. She could feel it in the way his muscles uncoiled when he finally realized.

"You're a genius, Candace," Phineas laughed.

He expanded his search, and cut off all measure of helped by making a map of all the places without reach of Phineas's security cameras.

"It's either this or underground," she told him. "Actually, that's not a bad idea. Sent your bots in the sewers and cross-reference with city records. There might be a few illegal underground bunkers."

Phineas brightened immediately. Even if she wasn't yelling at him, she was supporting him. It was weird how it felt just as good as the yelling.

He spent the next two weeks dragging Candace everywhere with him in the gigantic drill. She'd adopted the use of a bostaff and became his makeshift bodyguard, simply because he didn't trust anyone else. Candace was strangely good at it, too.

They hit one bunker per day, in order to make repairs and regroup.

By the fifteenth, Phineas was getting panicky.

Candace silently prayed to whatever deities were listening when they arrived at number seventeen.

Perhaps then they could be a trio.

~?~

Candace almost cried when she heard "Ferb, I know what we're gonna do today".

Instead, she shoved down the tears and made her way back to the drill. Major Monogram and Carl were unconscious, surrounded by twenty-five other animals.

There were usually twenty-six.

Candace remained on alert, hitting her staff against any vent she saw.

She didn't relax even when they were safely in the drill and her two brothers were relaxed. Ferb was covering himself with a nice, soft blanket, and the green-haired boy seemed to do a double-take at the bo staff, her black spandex pants, and the darkest-shade tank top she owned.

"No known complications," Candace said simply. "But one out of twenty-six OWCA animals were unaccounted for."

"They said one of them had protective owners," Ferb said softly. "He wasn't able to come in for his shifts since Phineas took over."

"And you're sure he wasn't there this time, right?" Candace asked.

"I was locked up for a while," Ferb said. He pulled the brown, fuzzy blanket tighter over his shoulders and tucked it under his socked feet. "I wouldn't know."

Candace exhaled. "Well, that can't be helped. Do we have the agents in cages and the humans in handcuffs yet?"

Phineas was already typing in the command codes. "We're all good!"

"Where are Isabella, Buford, and Baljeet?" Ferb's voice was disconcertingly soft.

"We've got 'em back at the hideout," Phineas said. "They were easier to find than you, lemme tell ya!"

Ferb started shaking.

Candace handed him a screwdriver, a pack of screws, a few blocks of metal, and a battery he could use to sate his obsession before they got back. Her brother's hands were steady as he got a bunch of wire and turned it into a functioning phone while still keeping his feet under the blanket.

"Looks great, Ferb," Candace said.

Ferb blinked. He tucked his arms back under his blanket and leaned into Candace's side.

"I've missed you," the girl said.

She felt his eyelashes fluttering closed, and his muscles relax.

They would be fine.


End file.
